Media Library

Specifically for material in the Media Library, you may post material from this site to another website or on a computer network for personal, church-related, noncommercial use unless otherwise indicated. For more information about using and sharing Church media, check out our FAQ page.

Facebook

What Is Facebook?

Facebook is one of the largest social networking sites on the Internet. It currently has more than 1 billion users around the world. Users create a profile page and then connect it with the profile pages of their friends and family. They can share status updates, event invites, photos, videos, notes, and links to other websites.

Overview

Facebook was founded in 2004, and by the fall of 2007, the website was seeing an average of one million new users each week. Since then, Facebook’s growth has continued to increase, reaching 901 million monthly active users at the end of March 2012. Approximately 488 million of these users visit the site every day. In addition, Facebook is now available in more than 70 languages, and about 80 percent of monthly active users are outside of the United States and Canada.

Facebook is available to anyone with an e-mail address. Once signed up, users create a profile page where they can post information about themselves. They can post a “status” about anything they want and allow others to view it. Often people share favorite videos, news articles, music, and so forth. Through security preferences, users can also choose what personal information and photos are shared and what groups of people are able to view them. Users have the option to explore others’ profiles and to show if they “like” a post or to “comment” on what is posted.

Users connect with other people on Facebook by becoming “friends.” Once connected, users can view each other’s profile and share content with one another. People can spread information about and invite others to upcoming social events by creating and inviting Facebook friends to “Events.” Facebook users can also connect with others by creating and joining “Groups,” for people who share common interests.

Businesses, organizations, and interest groups can create their own “page” where people can find out more information or show their support. Users can become “fans” of these pages to keep updated and to find others who have common interests. Also, the Facebook “Like” button can be embedded on any web page. Clicking the Like button shares a link to the page in the news feeds of a user’s friends.

The Church and Facebook

While Church members have been creating pages for the LDS Church and associated topics (such as Mormons, Book of Mormon, and Thomas S. Monson) for a few years now, the Church did not have Facebook pages created until May 2008. Since then, facebook.com/LDS has grown to approximately 709,602 members (as of June 17, 2013). Other Facebook pages created by the Church have since been launched for specific organizations, products, and buildings.

The Church has found many ways to use the resources of Facebook to spread the message of the Restoration, including: